Rio Karma Review

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By M. Wiley

This review will make life harder for many of you. A few months ago the choice was simple: iPod or Zen (one of the various models). Then iRiver came long with the iHP-100, which was outstanding but expensive, especially considering the modest 10GB drive. Then iRiver dropped the price and released the iHP-120, which launched for the same price as the iHP-100 ($399.99), but had a 20GB drive. Dell has entered the market as well, recently releasing its DJ (Digital Jukebox). And now you have another seriously impressive jukebox to consider: the Rio Karma. If you've been saving for a digital jukebox, then you have plenty of options.

When I wrote the review of the iHP-120 I revealed that it is my favorite hard drive player. I also mentioned that the Karma ran a very close second. After spending more time with it I have realized that I like the two players equally, which, if you remember my enthusiasm for the iHP-120, says a lot for the Karma. I knew I was going to like it, but I didn't know just how much. If you are shopping for a jukebox you would be remiss to skip over the Karma. It simply has too much going for it to be ignored.

DNNA went for a small, chubby design with the Karma. As you can see in the pics, the Karma is a good deal shorter than even the iRiver. However, it is almost twice as thick. Thick or tall is an entirely personal preference. In general I prefer thin, but the Karma is small enough to fit in most pockets very comfortably. The shape also makes for easy one-handed operation, especially for righties. Southpaws will be happy to know that you can rotate the screen 90 degrees, which puts the scroll wheel under your left thumb. You'll see this kind of attention to detail throughout the review.

The front of the player has two controls: a menu button and a four-way joystick that can be depressed. The red stick has become a trademark of Rio and it works well for navigation. The Karma also allows you to program the menu button. You can have either bring up the menu, start playing a song, etc. More on this in the menu breakdown.

The top of the player has a scroll wheel, power button, and headphone/remote jack. As of press time DNNA hasn't announced a remote, but with hope one will be released in the near future. The scroll wheel can be depressed to make selections. Strangely, and this is something that I really do not understand, Rio programmed the wheel to act as forward/reverse scan during playback. You can hold the red stick left or right for the same function. The wheel is stiffly set, but it accidentally spun in my pocket a couple time, which resulted in the song jumping around. I called Rio to find out how to disable this feature, but you cannot. The only solution is to engage the hold button. This is whack because you then lose all control. Again, the wheel does not spin freely -- you don't have to worry that your music will shoot around at the slightest shake -- but I find the configuration weird.

The right side of the player has separate volume up and volume down buttons and a hold slider. If you are right handed the volume controls are within easy reach of your forefinger. They are flush-mounted and offer healthy resistance.

On the bottom of the player are three jacks: USB miniplug, docking station, and power. You do not need the dock to charge the player or transfer via USB; you only really need it for Ethernet access.

The best thing about the controls is not the design, but rather how well they work. No player has shorter lag between commands. For example, you can move among songs as quickly as you can push the button and the music will start immediately - not quickly, not almost immediately, but immediately. The lag between command and operation is negligible. This is simply good memory management. Rio should be applauded on this point. It makes listening and accessing music more enjoyable.

As I mentioned in the preview, the Karma requires drivers for USB 2.0 transfers. It does not simply show up as a generic drive in any operating system. I do not like this because it diminishes the ability to use it as a data storage device, but there is an upside. The upside is that the player sorts all content by ID3 tags. (Any player that does not allow simple drag-and-drop transfers organizes music in the same manner.) I prefer my own file tree because I have some music organized my own way. For example, my DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist stuff is in my DJ Shadow folder. The iRiver keeps it that way; the Karma does not. In the end, of course, both methods allow for full browsing and it comes down to preference.

I rarely compliment a company on transfer/management software, but the Rio Music Manager is nicely designed and easy to use. When it's open you can browse your MP3 folder and drag files onto the Karma icon, so it feels a bit like drag-and-drop. Toward the end of the review there is a screenshot that you can enlarge.

Notice the included bundle, of which I have a photo below. The Karma ships with quite a collection of accessories. Most importantly it ships with a docking station that is an essential part of the Karma equation. The dock not only has RCA, power, and USB jacks, but also an Ethernet port. This allows you to install the Karma as a network MP3 server. I say "install," but there is really nothing to it. Plug in the cables, stick it in the dock, turn it on, and type the Karma's IP address in a browser window. On my network it configured itself automatically and correctly. When you initially contact the Karma, a splash page gives you the option to download a small Java applet. When you run it you type in the IP address and password, if you set one up.

At this point you are free to transfer content to and from the Karma without restriction. This feature is extremely valuable to anyone on a network or who simply wants to move content without the software. For instance, I can keep the dock at work, where I can share my music with coworkers across our network, and connect via USB at home. Cool, huh? I don't know how often users will actually take advantage of this ability -- I have a hunch that most of you are not on networks and simply transfer to and from one computer -- but it is very convenient. That this is part of the stock bundle makes it more appealing. I could easily see a company charging an extra thirty bones for it.

The Karma's menu system is so intuitive and nice looking that it doesn't even seem to be as deep as it is. The most important options are right up front, with lesser used options buried. When I run through the menu system you might be overwhelmed and disbelieve me when I say it's easy to use. For this reason I have included three shots of the menu in action to give you an idea of the GUI. Check it:

As you can see, the menu system allows for quite a bit of adjustment. It also provides plenty of information about the contents of the player. Along the same lines, when you depress the red stick during playback you are taken to a list of the current tracks. You can move up and down to browse and depress the stick again to play. While in the menu system the silver menu button acts as a back button.

The Rio DJ is basically an automatic playlist generator that works within the parameters you set. This is a refreshing approach to playback and Rio is the only company with such a function. I haven't been using it often, but its convenient when you start to get bored of listening to the same four or five albums. Rio gets a nod for this excellent inclusion.

The official site claims a battery life of 15 hours of continuous playback. Tracking battery life is a pain in the ass, but mine lasted about 14 hours from a single full charge at about 2/3 volume with the backlight on a very short timer. Your experience will vary depending on volume, EQ, backlight, etc.

I only listened at 2/3 volume because the headphone amp is extremely powerful. I don't exactly how powerful it is, but it is one of the most powerful I've used. Sound remains clean up to the maximum volume. Sound quality depends more on your bit rates, but with good source material the Karma really sounds excellent. It bests the iRiver and the iPod, but is about on par with the Zen.

As for format support, the Karma can handle FLAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and WMA files.

Rio is pretty aggressive in pricing the Karma, which will help sales in such a crowded market. The price was recently dropped to $349.99, and that's MSRP. You can find it for closer to $300.00 with a little searching. One reader even emailed me with a link to a site selling it for $280.00. Even at MSRP it offers very high value. If you could find one for under $300.00 it would be a damn steal. Creative still offers the best value, especially if you are looking for a high capacity device. However, the pricing puts the Karma in second place.

Click image to enlarge.Conclusion

If I were spending my own money on a jukebox I would think long and hard about the Karma. It is missing several advanced features, e.g. FM tuner, voice recording, and line-in recording, but it makes up for these omissions with some unique features of its own. The Ethernet dock and Rio DJ add quite a bit of functionality by themselves. Whether or not you buy a Karma should be based on a few simple criteria. If you are someone looking for the aforementioned features (radio, etc.), then you'll have to look somewhere else. If you plan on making recordings, then you'll have to look somewhere else. However, if you just looking for a simple and effective way to play back your digital audio files, then the Karma is a perfect choice. It is extremely easy to use, sounds great, comes with a solid accessory bundle, and is very compact. Rio deserves credit for assembling such a package and releasing it for such a competitive price.